Review of EPICENTER Major 2019
Anton PashencevThe last rating championship of the season 2018/2019 - EPICENTER Major 2019 - has ended up. Sixteen teams from different parts of the earth took part in the competition and the guys from Vici Gaming became the winners earning $350,000 and 4,950 Dota Pro Circuit Points. We will sum up the competition and tell you about the teams who managed to make a pleasant or unpleasant surprise.
Disappointing teams:
Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, Team Secret, Gambit Esports
Evil Geniuses and Fnatic had an awful performance and if the failure of Fantic was predictable as they had been in a bad shape for several months and they failed at MDL Disneyland® Paris Major, as for Evil Geniuses, everybody expected at least their placement in Six Best. During the tournament we understood that Evil Geniuses are thinking about their rest before preparation for The International 2019 and as a result, the 13-16 place.
Team Secret approached the event as the main favourites however the team couldn’t get even to Six Best: Puppey and the team stopped at the 7-8 position.
Meanwhile, Gambit Esports performed rather well and got to the 7-8 place in the end of the tournament being one step away from getting to The International 2019, but the players were not able to overplay Alliance, making all the CIS fans disappointed.
Surprising teams:
Alliance, Team Liquid, TNC Predator, Vici Gaming, OG
The team Alliance got to the event having taken the second place at the minor and all the teams seemed to understand the strategy of the Swedes, however, LodA and his teammates managed to surprise everybody and get to Six Best getting into a great shape during the event. The roster managed to win Virtus.Pro at the group stage and kick Gambit Esports out to the playoff which led Alliance to the slot at the main championship of the year.
Team Liquid replaced the player a couple of weeks before the start of the championship and they wanted to show everybody that they made this step for a reason, however, the roster almost didn’t believe in success of their performance. W33 has a great style of the game unlike MATUMBAMAN, and there was not enough time for preparation of the team, but Kuroky and the team left the situation perfectly. The captain handed his core players out signature heroes and the rest of the team stayed in tune with these heroes. As a result, the individual level of the game of Miracle and W33 helped the team to get to the grand final where they didn’t have team cooperation against Vici Gaming.
Meanwhile, Vici Gaming had prepared for the championship and they looked rather strong among the other contestants. The roster showed themselves great individually and while fighting for the team. The picks were made by rOtK, which led the team to the grand final where they got an easy win over Team Liquid by the score of 3:2 and raised the cup over their heads.
Another discovery of the championship was guys from TNC Predator who managed to gain the fourth position. The mid player of Virtus.Pro, Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko was complimentary about the teams and clarified that Kuku and the team are the best at meta now. TNC showed themselves great at the group stage, won over Royal Never Give Up and PSG.LGD at the playoff. However they couldn’t cope with the well-prepared Virtus.Pro and left the event.
The last “breakthrough” of the championship could be OG, as the guys reached the 7-8 position with a substitute. Before the start of the tournament N0tail, who is the captain oer coordinator, got to hospital and his place was taken by the coach Sockshka, who didn’t perform at the professional stage for more than three years. At the group stage the team didn’t have great results, however at the playoff the team adapted to the substitute and kicked Evil Geniuses and Team Secret out of the competition, providing themselves with a slot at the most awaited championship of the year.
Teams that performed as it had been expected:
Virtus.Pro, Forward Gaming, NiP, Infamous, paiN, Royal Never Give Up, PSG.LGD
Everybody expected the guys from Virtus.Pro and PSG.LGD to perform well and the teams didn’t let their fans down - Maybe and the team got to 5-6 position, while “Bears” got to three best. Representatives of the CIS looked strong and capable to win, however at the playoff the met an obstacle Team Liquid and let the latter go to the grand final.
NiP and Royal Never Give Up already had their invitations to TI9 and they must have skipped preparation for the competition, however they managed to cause problems to their favourites. According to the results of the tournament, the teams got to 9-12 position which is not a good one for such famous players as PPD and LaNm, but, taking into account the invitation to the main championship of the year, the result shouldn’t be called unexpected.
Two last participants who performed as it had been expected were Infamous and paiN Gaming, who happened to be outsiders of the championship. The rosters looked weak and they managed to get only to the 13-16 places. We should mark that after such a failure Infamous have already got disbanded.